The Reutter/Wade Toxicity Report and CSEPP Civilian Emergency Planning

The Reutter/Wade analysis (Reutter and Wade 1994) was undertaken to improve the technical basis for assessing battlefield casualties from deployment of chemical weapons containing nerve and sulfur mustard agent payloads. The analysis sought to utilize available data and modern, accepted, toxicological methods to develop agent-specific casualty estimators for U.S. military forces. The authors also estimated qualitative confidence levels for each estimator based on the quality and quantity of the data. For percutaneous and inhalation vapor exposures, the report estimated cumulative exposures necessary to achieve lethal (LCt{sub 50}), severe (ED{sub 50}), threshold (percutaneous vapor only, ECt{sub 50}), or mild (nasal vapor, ECt{sub 50}) effects. For percutaneous liquid exposures, the report estimated lethal (LD{sub 50}) and severe (ED{sub 50}) doses. The vapor exposures necessary to achieve mild ocular effects were also estimated. This report examines potential implications of the Reutter/Wade study for off-site or civilian emergency planning in the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program (CSEPP) and summarizes principal findings of the Reutter/Wade report, the National Academy review of Reutter/Wade, and the Institute for Defense Analysis (IDA) expert panel assessment of Reutter/Wade casualty estimators. This report also identifies how estimates of human health effects are used in CSEPP, organized by functional planning topics. Finally CSEPP casualty estimators are considered in light of the Reutter/Wade work